The bathroom furniture field is constantly looking for innovative technical solutions to be able to meet the increasingly demanding needs of architects and designers.
One of such needs relates to shower trays. In fact, several types of shower trays exist, each of which has been developed depending on the type of installation which it is intended to. Particularly, the shower trays can be divided into two macro-categories, inside which models that are different from one another in shape and dimension are present bet. Such two macro-categories relates to shower trays which can be installed flush with the surrounding floor, i.e., which can be installed so as to lie on the same plane defined by the coating of the screed of the room housing the shower, and to shower trays which can be installed in elevation with respect to the surrounding floor.
The shower trays of the prior art, whether they are floor flush shower trays or in elevation with respect to the floor, are usually composed of a monolithic member, for example, made of ceramic, provided with a frame defining the shower tray footprint and with a hole arranged to be connected to a drain pipe. A resting plane of the shower tray (the one on which the user stands when using the shower) that usually has the above-mentioned drain hole is defined inside the frame. The shape and configuration of the frame are dictated by the type of installation of the shower tray; floor flush shower trays have frames that are different in structure and configuration from the elevation shower trays. Such different structure of the frames is mainly required due to structural and operating reasons of the shower tray.
In fact, in the floor flush shower trays, it is necessary to ensure that the frame is coplanar to the resting plane (and to the coating of the room floor) and that no water leakages are present between the frame and the floor coating (to prevent the water from reaching the screed). This involves the presence of undercuts, protuberances, or the like in the frame intended to receive waterproof members to be sandwiched between the frame and the floor.
In the shower trays in elevation with respect to the floor, the resting plane usually lies on a lower a plane than that of the frame, so as to implement a step that holds the water inside the shower tray. The frame part that faces the room (i.e., opposite the one facing the resting plane) is usually shaped so as to exhibit pleasant aesthetical impact, since it remains visible, and therefore it is usually free from undercuts, protuberances, or the like.
Therefore, it shall be apparent that floor flush shower trays cannot be installed in elevation, and that elevation shower trays cannot be installed flush with the floor.
This involves the need for the shower tray manufacturers to arrange production lines and warehouses for both the macro-categories of shower trays, thus increasing the manufacturing and storage costs.
Again, the aesthetic and chromatic variants of the shower trays that each manufacturer propose have to be replicated on both types of shower trays, forcing the manufacturers to limit such variants in order to contain the manufacturing and, especially the storage costs.
Furthermore, the shower trays vendors are often forced to limit the number of possible aesthetic and chromatic variants that are physically displayed at sale points (due to the overall dimensions taken by each shower tray), limiting the possible selection of the end user, particularly in the case of private purchasers who, since they are not architects or designers, are barely able to imagine the real aesthetic impact of a shower tray merely illustrated in a catalogue.
In this context, the technical task of the present invention is to propose a shower tray that is free from the drawbacks set forth above.
Particularly, the object of the present invention is to provide a shower tray that allows reducing the space necessary to store the same chromatic and aesthetic variations of shower trays flush with the floor and in elevation.
A further object of the present invention is to propose a shower tray that allows displaying a high number of chromatic and aesthetic variations, whether they are referred to flush shower trays or elevation shower trays.